Dagu was surprised and said: "Your Highness, do you want to return to Tibet?"
Chidu Chizan nodded, put a hand on the other person's shoulder, and said in a deep voice: "Brother Dagu, I want to give you a difficult task."
"Prince, please give me your instructions."
"This weapon of the Tang Dynasty is too, too powerful. I heard that Wu Chengsi used this weapon to destroy the Korean city wall. Now it seems to be true."
When talking about gunpowder, Chidu Chizan couldn't help but tremble.
"My subordinates have just thought of this." Dagu said with a worried look on his face:
"Our biggest advantage over the Tang people is the terrain. The high mountains and dangerous roads are our barriers. But if they have such weapons, they can easily destroy our barriers."
Chidu Chizan gritted his teeth and said:
"Let's not mention our homeland. As long as they attack Tuyuhun now, we have no terrain advantage. How can we resist their weapons?"
Dagu smiled bitterly and said:
"Yes, as long as they let their horses rush towards our army with such things tied to them, our army will be easily defeated by them."
Chidu Chizan had not yet thought of the use of gunpowder, and his face became even more ugly when he heard this, and said: "So, we can't go to war with the Tang army now!"
Dagu nodded vigorously: "Indeed not possible."
"So, I need to return to Tubo immediately, tell Zanpu about the gunpowder, and ask him to immediately ask Lun Qinling to withdraw his troops from Bahuan City, and at the same time write a letter to the Tang Dynasty to apologize."
Dagu hesitated and said: "I'm afraid that even so, they still won't let us go."
Chidu Chizan stared at him, patted his shoulder and said:
"Brother Dagu, this is all up to you. You have to find a way to bribe the Tang Dynasty civil servants and ask them to persuade the Tang Dynasty emperor not to go to war with us. Didn't they just fight a war for a year? They should also need to recuperate.
That’s right.”
Dagu's heart sank. It seemed that Chidu Chizan planned to leave him alone in Chang'an.
He took a deep breath, nodded and said: "Prince, don't worry, my subordinates will definitely complete their mission."
After a pause, he added: "Prince, even if my subordinates succeed, the Tang Dynasty will still attack us sooner or later."
"I know this, so we must seize the time to turn Tuyuhun into our own territory as soon as possible, strengthen defense, and prepare for war.
In addition, while you are in Chang'an, you must inquire more about gunpowder information. Songtsen Gampo once said that if you want to deal with your enemy, you first need to understand your enemy!"
Dagu solemnly said: "I will definitely fulfill my mission!"
Without any further instructions, Chidu Chizan hurriedly left Chang'an City with a few followers, as if fleeing.
News of his departure soon spread to the palace. Wu Chengsi was currently in the Zichen Palace discussing the dispatch of troops with Wu Mei, King Pei, the prince, Li Ji and Su Dingfang.
After learning about the departure of the Tubo prince, the prince beamed with joy and said:
"Father, that's great. The Tubo prince escaped in a hurry. My cousin's plan was successful. I see that General Su doesn't have to leave."
Just as Liu Rengui was about to speak, King Pei had already said first:
"Brother Emperor, you are wrong. Although Chengsi's plan is successful, it is not certain that the Tibetans will retreat. What if they don't retreat in terms of Qinling?"
King Pei would never let go of any opportunity to attack the prince.
The prince secretly glanced at Wu Mei and Li Zhi, and seeing that they did not express any opinions, he said: "Seeing the power of gunpowder, how could they not retreat?"
"Brother Huang is wrong again. Gunpowder is indeed very powerful, but that is because Chengsi buried a large amount of gunpowder in the soil in advance. This is so powerful, and its help in the war is very limited."
Wu Chengsi watched the prince being suppressed by King Pei with cold eyes and had no intention of helping him.
The prince's previous bewildering behavior brought his sense of this person to its lowest point.
Normally speaking, if the prince is fighting with King Pei, he should definitely win over him.
He was also willing to side with the prince.
Although he just wanted to take advantage of the prince, it was a matter of mutual benefit and benefited both of them.
Unexpectedly, the prince was incited by King Pei again and again to turn around and deal with him. Such a pig teammate is worse than nothing.
"But the Tubo people don't know that," the prince retorted.
King Pei raised his voice and said:
"Brother, can you guarantee that the Tibetan people must have been deceived? Maybe they pretended to be deceived on purpose, trying to lure us away from the rescue, so that they could take down our four Anxi towns in one go!"
The prince was speechless after being refuted, and looked towards Wu Chengsi, hoping that he would help him.
Wu Chengsi stared straight ahead, pretending not to see anything.
Li Zhi sighed secretly and said: "Su Qing, just as King Pei said, you should lead the army to Hexi to support them. If the Tubo people retreat, then return the same way."
"I accept my order."
…
Zhugenan raised his eyebrows, pouted, and pushed open the door of Zheng Lingxuan's courtyard with an unhappy expression.
After Di Renjie came in, he locked the door, and then came to the main room with familiarity, without knocking, and just opened the door and entered.
"Why did you come in without knocking?"
Inside the house, Zheng Lingxuan was eating with Chen Bilian. Chen Bilian quickly stood up and bowed to Di Renjie and Zhuge Nan.
Zhugenan sat down at the table unceremoniously and said, "Didn't you know we were coming today?"
Zheng Lingxuan glared at Zhugenan, then smiled at Di Renjie and said, "Brother Di, you are here."
Di Renjie nodded and sat down at the table.
Zhuge Nan took a bite of the food and muttered:
"Wu Shaoqing went too far this time. He only allowed officials of fifth rank and above to watch the gunpowder. Aren't we sixth-rank officials human beings?"
Di Renjie frowned and said, "Didn't the princess explain it just now? This matter was not decided by Wu Shaoqing. Why are you so angry?"
Hearing Di Renjie mention the princess, Zheng Lingxuan said, "Have you been to the prince's mansion just now?"
Zhuge Nan said: "Yes, I originally wanted to ask Wu Shaoqing about the situation, but he is still in the palace and has not returned to the palace."
Zheng Lingxuan propped up her chin and said, "I heard from people in the Ministry of Punishment that the gunpowder was louder than thunder, but I don't know if that's true."
Zhuge Nan chuckled and said:
"There is actually some inside story about this matter. Although the officials saw the gunpowder, they didn't understand that the explosion was not actually the small medicine bag Han Cheng placed on the ground."
"When Wu Shaoqing demonstrated the explosion of gunpowder, it seemed that he only lit a small bag of gunpowder. In fact, he had people bury hundreds of kilograms of gunpowder underground in advance!"
Zheng Lingxuan was surprised and said: "I heard that His Majesty also went there, could Wu Shaoqing be..."
"Where are you thinking? Your Majesty, Her Royal Highness the Queen and several ministers all know about this. It is mainly to deceive the Tibetan people."
"Tubo people?"
"Yes, according to the princess, the Tubo prince also sneaked into Furong Garden at that time. In this scene, Wu Shaoqing deceived that stupid prince."
Zheng Lingxuan was stunned for a while and then said cautiously: "It's such an important thing, does it matter if you tell us?"
Zhuge Nan waved his hand and said: "The princess said that the Tubo prince has left Chang'an overnight, don't worry, otherwise she won't tell us."
Di Renjie said in a deep voice:
"Having said that, the Tubo people must still have spies in the city. Wu Shaoqing's move is probably to trick the Tubo people into retreating. Before they retreat, it's better not to mention this matter to others."
Zheng Lingxuan and Chen Bilian both nodded.
Seeing Chen Bilian hesitate to speak, Di Renjie said:
"Miss Chen, I've been asking around in the city these past few days, but I haven't found Zhang Lin. I suspect that he has left Chang'an City."
Chen Bilian lowered her head and said nothing.
Zheng Lingxuan asked with concern: "Sister Chen, do you want us to take you home?"
Chen Bilian waved her hands hurriedly: "No, I want to look for it again, wait..."
Before she finished speaking, Di Renjie suddenly stood up and walked to the door.
When he opened the door, he saw a woman in black standing outside.
"It's you."
Di Renjie frowned. This woman was exactly the woman in black he had seen that day.
"I'm looking for Zheng Lingxuan." The woman in black sounded a little weak.
Di Renjie glanced at her body, noticed that she was injured, stepped aside and said, "Come in."
Zheng Lingxuan stood up in a hurry and stepped forward: "Junior sister Zhou, where have you been these days? Are you injured?"
The woman in black glanced at her and said slowly: "It's okay, I just suffered some skin trauma. Senior Sister Zheng, can I ask you a favor?"
"What's the business? Tell me."
The woman in black said nothing and looked at Di Renjie and Zhuge Nan.
Di Renjie said: "Lingxuan, Brother Zhuge and I will go back first."